White Team
by supahotfire
Summary: ONI secretly takes a SPARTAN II fireteam during their training on Reach to take them to Earth and turn them into a top-secret unit only ONI can control.
1. Chapter 1

SPARTAN II FIRETEAM, DESIGNATED:

"WHITE TEAM"

DESC:

"WHITE TEAM IS A HIGHLY CLASSIFIED SPECIAL OPERATIONS SQUAD DESIGNED FOR COVERT INSERTION BEHIND ENEMY LINES, ESPIONAGE/RECONNAISSANCE, AND ASSASSINATION MISSIONS" - CAPTAIN DAVID LYNCH, ONI SECTION 3

The story of SPARTAN II Fireteam "White Team". Just a what-if scenario I had and toyed around with. I have a couple chapters pre-written that I'll post after if this one gets reads or reviews.

**Chapter One**

**July 20, 2523**

**22:45 hours, UNSC Military Calendar**

The Spartan trainees walked down the hall of the Prowler, two ONI guards behind and in front of them. The guards led them through a door, and into an office. The man sitting at the desk looked tired, even haggard; his eyes were bloodshot and had bags under them. His black hair was about an inch longer than regulation, and he seemed to be reading reports on the monitor in front of him.

He looked up, seeing the Spartans standing before him. He sighed, closing the monitor and stood up.

"O'Conner, take your squad and watch the door from the outside. No one is to disturb us."

"Aye, aye, sir." The ODST said, giving a two fingered salute and turning smartly on his heels, the rest of the guards following. The door slid shut behind them, and the man at the desk took a long look at one of the Spartans.

"How old are you, son?"

The Spartan with the designation of zero-one-two on his chest responded, "The instructors said that was classified, sir."

"Good response," the man said, a smile almost reaching his face, "but it's not classified from me. So again, how old?"

A different trainee spoke up this time. Her uniform had zero-zero-seven stitched into the front. "Twelve years old sir. All of us."

The man shook his head. Too young, he thought. But this wasn't his decision. He was only supposed to train them and be their handler. Keep them alive as long as he could. The last one was his personal mission, at least.

"Your names?"

The one with 012 on his uniform said automatically, "I'm Oh-Twelve, sir, and to my left is Oh-Nine—"

"Don't give me the classified crap," the man interrupted, raising a hand. "Again, I'm above the pay grade." He held up a manila folder. "I could look all this up myself, but frankly, I've got better things to do than wade through all this, so just answer my questions and we can all move on to more pressing tasks. Now: names?"

The trainee in front of him swallowed, but to his credit, the man thought, he swallowed any anger or embarrassment he might have and answered clearly and confidently again.

"Jacob oh-twelve, sir. The one to my left is Piper oh-nineteen, and past her in order are Olivia oh-four one, Luke oh-four five, and Nicole oh-oh-seven. That's what they've called us for the past six years, at least, sir."

The man nodded. "I'm Captain David Lynch, your new handler. By order of ONI Section Three, Beta-Four division, your team, now designated White Team, will be transformed into a covert strike force under ONI's complete jurisdiction. Unfortunately, to cover up your disappearance, everyone you knew on Reach thinks you died from a rockslide in a training incident. No one knows you're here. Legally, you're dead. Well, dead twice, now. The guards outside will escort you back to your quarters. I'm assuming you can find the gym and mess hall by yourselves. We'll arrive on Earth for your new training in four days. Dismissed."

Lynch sat back down and opened up his monitor again. The Spartans turned and exited the office. Once the door was closed behind them, Jacob looked over at Luke.

"Thanks for the backup."

"You had it covered. I didn't need to say anything."

"Quiet, pukes," the lead ODST ordered. He, like most UNSC personnel the young trainees encountered, hated them with unrivaled animosity. Apparently word had spread after the cadets had beaten the marine Tango Company in training games multiple times. Damaged pride was a dangerous thing among people who prided themselves on being unbeatable.

The group came to a stop in front of another door, labeled 'Storage'.

"Here's your bunks, freaks," the guard in the lead said, chuckling, "you can find your way to the mess and the gym by the signs on the halls. If you know how to read."

The ODSTs left laughing while the cadets looked around their new room.

"Well… could be worse." Piper said, ever the optimist.

"Could be better, too," Nicole contradicted.

"It's out of our control, Spartans. Let's get this place set up to sleep. We'll find the gym tomorrow morning and hit the mess after. Hop to it, Spartans."

The team opened their packs, laying out sleeping bags and changed into workout clothes to save time in the morning.

Olivia walked over to Jacob.

"This is a complete haymes, Jake. This ain't right. I try to look on the bright side but I really don't see one."

"It is pretty brutal. Not even Mendez had us sleep in a storage closet for bunks."

"It's effin ONI, mate. They don't give a crap about us."

"Hey, calm down. We'll be fine. Now let's get ready to kip, else Luke's gonna go off on us bein' a couple of dossers."

"Yeh... suppose you're right. ONI wouldn't do anything too bad. Not to their precious pets, yeah?"

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. Not to us. Too expensive, too valuable." Olivia smiled and clapped a hand on Jacob's shoulder.

"Thanks Jake. You've gotten me through a lot, you know?"

"Anytime, Liv." Jacob smiled back and looked down. Olivia removed her hand and glanced in her pack. She pulled out a pair of combat knives.

"Here, I knicked this from the Pelican. Keep it on you at all times. I trust these spooks about as far as I could throw them." Jacob nodded in thanks, inspecting the titanium alloy blade. Olivia put her hands back into the pack, pulling out her sleeping bag.

"Sleep near me?" She asked.

"Don't really have a choice, Liv, it's a storage closet." Jacob replied with half a grin.

Olivia, in reply, rolled her eyes. "Smartass."

Jacob smiled and unraveled his bag about a foot away from hers.

"Lights out, White Team. We'll get up at oh-five hundred tomorrow and report to the gym. Breakfast after that, back here for lessons and then lunch. A run after that and some knife work, then we'll talk to Lynch, hopefully. Then dinner and free time. Only four days of this then we get blue skies and green grass," Luke called out. The overhead lights in the closet flicked off, smothering the room in darkness. The only thing that was light was the faint glow of the display of their data pads showing that they were charging.

"Jake… d'you think we'll be ok? After all of this? After the innies?" Olivia whispered.

Jacob thought for a second. "Well with all the training that they're giving us, I think we're gonna be pretty much invincible. Of course we'll be alright. Luke's not gonna make any calls that'll hurt us and you know that I'm not the only one on this team that will watch out for ya."

"I know... it's just, for the first time since we were first taken, I'm scared. I was fine during combat training, during zero-gee exercises. Hell, even when Tango used live rounds I was okay. I dunno what's wrong with me, Jake."

"Hey. Hey. It's okay. It'll be okay. You've got us with you. We've got you no matter what, yeah? No spook is gonna separate us. Nothing will."

Olivia, usually a stoic, strong person, was near her limit.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Usually are. I'm knackered. Gonna try to sleep, you should too. Night, Jake. Thanks again."

"Yeah, not a problem. Night, Liv."

Jacob ran his thumb against the blade of the knife, listening to the quiet breaths of his teammates. Training on Reach had even gone as far as to get them to sleep quieter and lighter. He thought about how different his life would be if he wasn't forcibly conscripted into the SPARTAN program. He'd be in school, probably playing some sport, being with his mates. The closest he'd ever get to that would be the film night that Mendez had put on when he'd been feeling generous. He couldn't remember the movie itself, but the 75 candidates had all piled in the room talking, not having to worry about being asleep by a certain time because they had a day's leave. It was nice.

Jacob smiled at the memory. He had been sprawling in a chair with Olivia and Piper, just like normal kids. The three had been arguing about the best way to incapacitate an opponent.

He sheathed the knife, and put it under his pillow. Jacob closed his eyes, and soon, like his teammates, was sound asleep.

**A/N**

So… First story on here, wow I'm cool. The story is mainly gonna be made with OC's, and since White Team is apart of an ONI section, it can sort of fit into the Halo universe as all their missions and operations would be classified. This chapter kinda explained what to expect and you meet the main characters, too. Just to clarify, they're Spartans, so there's no romance going on inside the team. Their fireteam is family. Posts would be every Wednesdayish, if this chapter goes well. Thanks for reading, yours in supahotishness,

supahotfire


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**July 21, 2523**

**0500 Hours, UNSC Military Calendar**

"Wake up, Spartans! Full day ahead of us!" Luke yelled, marching around the room shaking everyone.

"Screw you, Luke." Nicole said under her breath as she got up, rubbing her eyes. Next to her, Piper jumped up and looked around. Jacob sat up, bleary-eyed. Olivia was already at the door, having already woken up a few minutes prior.

The five Spartans got ready, grabbing anything they'd need for the rigorous workout ahead of them. They marched out the door, following the posted signs leading them to the onboard gym.

Said gym was decently sized, for a Prowler, and had everything they'd need for the morning. The team got to work, receiving stares from other crewmen aboard the _Double Play_, the name of the ship they were currently on.

At twelve years old, the Spartan recruits were already putting up weights that high school athletes could. It was all thanks to Mendez's very demanding training. A squad of ODSTs looked at the "children" disdainfully until they started adding plates. Olivia's 150kg squats got their attention, but when Luke added 50 kilos and burned out five sets of ten, the ODSTs took a step back. Then Jacob matched him, and Nicole only took off the 10-kilo plates before doing her sets, and the ODSTs decided to hit the showers.

"What's eatin' them, then?" Olivia asked, watching the other soldiers shove out the gym door.

Jacob smiled. "Guess they didn't like sharing the gym with kids."

Piper finished her set at the same weight as Olivia, and they moved on to the next lift. They kept at a hard pace, one that had been drilled into them by the instructors on Reach. Push ups, sit ups, bench press, pull ups, core work, followed by a quick two mile run.

They switched off their treadmills almost as one, and after a couple minutes' cool down, Luke led the way to the showers. Once they were steam-cleaned and pressed into their uniforms, they headed to the mess, jostling each other to be first in line.

"Bloody 'ell," Olivia muttered, "would it kill 'em to fry up a proper banger?" She held up a pale, withered sausage and, reluctantly, dropped it and two more on her plate.

"No worries, Liv," Piper said behind her. "I've got a bottle of sauce that will make you forget what that sausage looks like."

"Where'd you get that, then?" Jacob demanded, reaching for it.

Piper pulled it away. "I made it. A little tomato paste, some vinegar, a dash of mustard, a couple pinches of paprika, and salt and pepper to taste. Oh, and a couple grams of a spice from a planet to be named."

Jacob raised an eyebrow, but reached out for it again. This time, Piper let him have it, a satisfied smirk on her face. Jacob squirted out a small amount on the side of his tray and set the bottle back down. He put the sausage in it, and took a bite.

"Blimey, that's good. Actually makes the banger edible."

Piper smiled. She had a knack for cooking up amazing food, but the times she did were few and far between, unless they were in the field and had easy access to ingredients.

"Let the rest of us get some then, yeah?" Olivia said, grabbing the bottle and serving herself some before passing it around to Luke and Nicole. They nodded in appreciation to Piper, and dug in. They finished the meal in silence, and left the mess hall. The Spartans returned to the small storage closet that they were calling home for the four days they would be on the ship, and got out their data pads.

"What lesson today?" Nicole asked, furrowing her brow at the pad.

"Ah… calculus and then something about the Rainforest wars, I think. Then something about breaking firewalls? And then orienteering." Luke said.

"Why do we even have to learn this crap? Orienteering? We have electronic maps for a reason." Nicole rebutted.

"Well… what if an EMP hit? Or we could land on unmapped planets, or the HUDs on the fritz." Piper said, thoughtfully.

Nicole thought about it, and shrugged. "Well if anything can go wrong, it probably will. I guess you're right."

"Usually am." Piper said with a smirk and a wink.

Calculus and history classes went quickly, all five Spartans engaged and active. When they had their hacking lesson, though, the differences between them showed. Piper flew through the tasks, breaking the firewall almost before the others found it. She started to offer help to the others, but the instructor stopped her.

"Everyone has to do their own work here," the instructor said sternly. "Every one of you needs to know how to do this, because any one of you might have to do this by yourself without any outside assistance. Individual expertise starts now."

So the cadets went through their tasks in silence, while Piper occupied her time exploring the network. Most of the time she found her way around or through firewalls, but she came up against one she could not breach, which was an unusual situation for her. She wasn't able to figure out why, either. She figured she must've run into some seriously secret ONI files, or, as Nicole had suggested, she found the ship's AI, who hadn't shown its face yet, but must be monitoring the trainees.

Each class was scheduled for 45 minutes and the schedule was followed precisely. Closing their workstations, they filed across the hall to another room for their final class of the morning. The instructor watched somewhat skeptically as the five young Spartans filed in and sat in the chairs. After a minute of silence in which the trainees stared back at their instructor, trying to read his expression, he gave a small sigh and pulled out five folded maps. "These are maps," he said. "Old-style paper ones, like soldiers used for hundreds of years before we all got reliant on satellite navigation. Now with redundant systems and the ease of launching microsat constellations, paper maps are obsolete around civilized systems. But you lot won't always be around civilized systems, and sometimes we won't want to launch a new constellation around a planet because we won't want the inhabitants to know you're there. So you'll need to know how to figure out where you are the old-fashioned way."

He let that sink in for a moment, then went on. "You read a paper map the same way as a digital map, but there aren't nearly as many features on it. And you don't get any help from an AI finding the best route. Today's exercise will be to determine the best insertion point and route to take to infiltrate an enemy area and obtain information stored on an enemy intelligence officer's tacpad."

He passed the maps out and paused to let the Spartans unfold them while he tapped a button on his workstation that displayed the map on the wall, but started talking again before he was sure they were all oriented. "The enemy base is here," he said, highlighting an area on a large hill. "It is protected by air and ground patrols. Checkpoints at the road here—" he tapped a spot on the map—"and here are equipped with heavy machine guns."

The cadets marked their maps accordingly.

"The target's office is here, and his home is here. He'll be at his office from 9 to 5. Dawn is at 0630, sunset is at 1930. Pick your time and your place, and how to get there. You have—" he checked his watch—"22 minutes." The instructor sat down in his chair with something akin to a smirk, then turned his attention to his own datapad.

Jacob looked at Olivia, incredulous. She raised her eyebrows.

"That's it?" He whispered. "No more parameters than that?"

"Guess not."

"Can we at least work together?"

"No sharing, cadets!" The instructor barked.

Jacob and Olivia turned their eyes back to their own maps, chastened. Jacob concentrated, trying to remember the symbols. So concentric circles showed elevation...the more rings, the higher the hill, and the tighter the rings, the steeper the incline. So the base was on a hill some 500 meters above the nearby terrain, with its front gate toward a gentle slope and its rear toward a near-cliff. There was a road that looped around the interior of the base, including directly in front of the target's office, passing through a fortified gatehouse and down the gentle slope to the front. The front gate was a no-go, that was clear; there would be clear lines of fire all the way down the slope.

That left the rear of the base, which was where the target lived. At the base of the cliff was a creek or small river that wound its way through the low hills in the area. But how to know how deep that creek was, or how fast-moving?

"Psst! Liv!"

Olivia looked over at him sideways, her mouth shut tight, her head shaking "no" just perceptibly.

Jacob glanced up at the instructor, who did not seem to be paying attention. "How do we tell how deep the creek is?" He hissed.

Olivia shook her head, flaring her eyes and nodding subtly toward the instructor, who was still looking at something on his datapad.

"Just tell me that, Liv! I must've forgotten it in an earlier class."

"Cadet Zero-One-Two! Eyes on your own map!"

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"If I have to tell you again, I will write you up and—"

"Done!"

All heads turned to the voice. Luke held up his map, a blue line on it snaking from a circle to an X on the target's house. The instructor stared at him, his mouth still open.

"I've identified a route, sir," Luke said. "Did you want to check it?"

The instructor looked at his watch. "You're awfully confident for finishing in six minutes, cadet."

"I checked it twice, sir. This is the best way."

Jacob made eye contact with Olivia, and mouthed, "_Twice?_" A sinking feeling was growing that Luke was causing a distraction, sacrificing his grade for his squad mate. Jacob had barely begun to crack the map's code, let alone analyze the terrain, the defenses, and the targets.

The instructor rose from his desk and walked imperiously to Luke's seat. "Very well, cadet, show me why you think your hasty solution is the best."

"We infiltrate here, behind this hill to hide the landing site. It's far enough away that the noise of the Prowler should be hidden by the hills between the infil site and the base, but close enough that a team can jog to the target in less than an hour and not be fatigued when they get there. The house is a better target than the office because there will be lower security and probably fewer troops or policemen around for backup. This route avoids likely checkpoints here, here, and here, while staying off high ground that might skyline us to a lucky observer. We cross the stream here where it's still shallow and relatively slow-flowing, then follow it to the cliff at the rear of the house. We should be able to scale it without much difficulty, but if it's smoother than is typical for this sort of terrain, then we use grapples and cables. Either way, a five-person squad shouldn't be on the cliff for more than a minute and a half, and then it's a standard breach-and-assault operation."

The instructor was frowning mightily at the map, tapping his finger against his cheek. The cadets held their collective breath. Finally the instructor straightened and looked around the room. "It would seem that at least some of the hype about your kind is deserved. I haven't seen a cadet size up a tactical situation that thoroughly that quickly in all the years I've been teaching this course." He looked back at Luke. "Well done, cadet. You've earned an early lunch for you and your squad."

A/N

Thanks to all who reviewed!

_Sparta49_\- Soon, and thanks.

The Advocate7- Thanks! I will!

waceycorley- I will!

Again, normal postings will be every Wednesday, but I decided I should do this now.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

July 21, 2523

12:00 Hours, UNSC Military Calendar

"So, got anything else to make this rubbish better, Piper?" Jacob asked as he twirled the so called 'lasagna' on his fork.

"Sorry Jake, nothing for this." She replied, impaling a piece of the rations on her fork.

Jacob sighed, putting the food into his mouth and chewing, glaring at her all the while.

Luke sat down at the table, picking up his utensils and started eating before he spoke,

"So. The captain wants us to do some more conditioning. Ten miles on the treadmills. Then we're supposed to meet with him and have free time, then dinner and more free time. Then lights out, and we'll be there tomorrow. Got it?"

The rest of the team nodded or grunted their assent, and ate their meal.

"Seriously, this stuff blows. Are you sure you don't have anything?" Nicole asked Piper, who just smiled and shook her head no. Nicole sighed and took another bite.

"Y'know, it's not that bad if you chew fast enough," Olivia said, receiving a raised eyebrow from Jacob. "Okay, you're right. It isn't any good."

The team soon finished their food, and filed out of the room, through a few corridors to their room, changed out of their fatigues and into training attire. They made their way towards the gym, where they found an ODST squad lifting.

Luke nodded at their team leader, who was designated a master sergeant by the insignia on the sleeves of his shirt.

The sergeant didn't nod back, only looked back towards his team.

Nicole sent a scowl their way as the five Spartans worked their way to the treadmills. There, they hopped on, cranked the speed to a light run, and began the grueling ten mile course.

It lasted 55 minutes exactly, all of the trainees starting and stopping at the same time. The Spartans left the gym, all thinking about the shower they were about to take.

After the shower, the team had a meeting with their handler in his office. Another ONI security team picked them up from their supply closet they were calling their barracks, and marched them through the few corridors it took to get to Captain Lynch's office. The lead agent rapped his knuckles on the door, and a faint "Enter" could be heard.

The door opened, revealing the captain in about the same state as they had left them the previous day; annoyed looking and tired.

"Sergeant, take your team outside," he ordered, not looking up from the ever-present monitor on his desk.

"Aye, sir." The sergeant motioned to his team, and filed out the door, lining up against the wall across from it.

The door shut, and Lynch finally looked up.

"So. White Team. I assume you found your way around the ship easily enough?"

"Aye sir, the signs posted are easy enough." Luke answered, nodding.

"Good. And your lessons went well, according to the report from the instructor. He seemed very pleased about the orienteering portion. Good work, Luke.

"He also mentioned an… _interesting_ situation in the cyber hacking part." Lynch raised and eyebrow at Piper.

She kept standing at attention, not giving a reply.

"Silent bunch, aren't you?" Lynch asked he stood up, the question being more as a rhetorical than anything. To his surprise, one of the Spartans answered.

"Less so than most, sir. At least from our time on Reach, anyway." Olivia said. Lynch was caught off-guard for a second, but didn't show it.

"Interesting." He said, looking down at the monitor. He bent down and typed a few quick lines into the search bar.

"Do you have any idea why you were chosen for this ah, project?" He asked, not looking up from the file he was reading.

"No sir," Luke answered for the team, "no one told us anything. One minute we were out in the Highland Mountains on a training exercise with Chief Mendez and the rest of the candidates, the next we're regaining consciousness inside of a pelican's troop bay."

This seemed to interest the captain.

"You want the reasons?" He looked directly at each of them, his brown eyes were serious, with what might have been a hint of sadness in them.

"Sir?" Luke asked, confused. None of them had been asked if they wanted explanations for anything, they were either given right away if needed, or were left to their commanding officers.

"I asked if you wanted the reasons you five were chosen as a part of this project, squad leader." Lynch stated firmly.

"Oh, uh, yes sir. Please, sir."

"This is classified, mind you, but when your training is over I'm sure you'll have the classification level for this, so it doesn't matter anyway. Besides, from what I hear, your young cyber-warfare prodigy could probably find out for yourselves anyway."

"Of course sir. No one will say a word." Luke replied.

"I'll hold you to it, squad leader.

"You five were selected from a very choice set of standards. For starters, you were noticed to be more independent than the other trainees. You're all very talented, obviously, and if you don't know what you specialize in already I'm sure you will find out soon enough once we reach Earth in two days. Anyhow, you were also chosen because you all are compatible with each other. Your time alone shouldn't lead to any conflicts within the team.

"You five are also among the top fifteen percent of your company. You've made yourselves stand out more than others, in short. ONI doesn't have anything go by them. Olivia, that stunt you, Piper, and Jacob pulled to get behind Tango Company's lines? Excellent. Luke, your leadership skills are very good, and your sense for strategy is outstanding. And Nicole, your work with explosives is an art, or so I'm told."

Lynch looked up from reading.

"Don't repeat anything I just said. You five are excelling, even by the standards your other candidates have been setting."

"Aye, sir." The members of White Team responded.

"Good. Now to Earth."

"Sir, permission to speak?" Piper asked.

"Granted." Lynch said skeptically, folding his arms.

"Sir, why isn't ONI giving all Spartans this specialized training?"

Lynch sighed.

"I already went over this. You're special. End of story. No more questions now until I'm done. So, Earth. You will be put under the instruction of Master Chief Petty Officer Alexei Ivanov of ONI Section Three. He will oversee the remainder of your training while I relax on the Australian beaches with a drink in my hand.

"Other than that, everything should be about the same as it was on Reach. You're a top secret military project, no one knows about you, and once you're done with training we'll have you fighting the Insurrection in no time."

Lynch looked at all of the trainees as he spoke, settling back into his chair after he was done. The members of White Team were hooked into his words, nodding after he was done.

"Get some rest and report to the gym at the same time tomorrow. Classes are at the same time too, but I'm extending them to after lunch too, until dinner. You have free time from now till lights out. I expect you to be in tip top condition on arriving at Earth. Gym time same on Friday. Report to me right after breakfast then. Dismissed, Spartans."

A/N

Just a filler chapter, I guess. Baseball's starting to get in full swing and school isn't out yet so chapters could get delayed. Sorry.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

ONI Prowler _Double Play_

July 23, 2523

0450, UNSC Military Calendar

"Seriously, I just don't know what to think." Olivia whispered to Jacob, their teammates still asleep. Truthfully, Jacob was still half there too, but a shake from Olivia had been enough to rouse him from his sleep. His reaction to the waking hadn't been the best, his hand gripping the combat knife Olivia had given him three days ago, blade only a few inches from her face. He said sorry, but she only glared in reply.

"Olivia. Stop thinking so much. We're soldiers, yeah? Not thinkers like Luke or Lynch. ONI ain't gonna hurt us. We're too valuable. You know that."

"See, that's what I don't like. We're just soldiers. We're shouldn't _just_ be soldiers. We're people too."

"I'm not gonna get into this, Liv. Whether the ethics are right or wrong about this program, we're going to save lives. That's all that matters to me."

Olivia sighed. "Yeah. You're right again. Saving lives is what counts."

"Don't get me wrong, we shouldn't forget how to be people, but we are meant to fight. That's what the SPARTAN program is all about, yeah?"

"Yeah. Thanks Jacob. I owe you one. Like usual."

"I've got a feeling that it'll all be paid back sooner or later, in one way or another." Jacob smiled, then looked at his watch- it was almost time to get up and get to the gym. He sat up and yawned, stretched his arms and stood up. Luke's alarm went off, and he jolted awake, almost standing straight up before the first ring could end.

"Holy hell. I'll never get used to waking up this early every day." He said to himself. Luke looked around and spotted Olivia near the door and Jacob standing by his bedding and nodded to himself, pleased that half his team was already up. Luke ran himself through the day- gym, breakfast, a meeting with Captain Lynch, classes, lunch, gym again, and free time. Until they arrived at Earth, that is.

Earth.

Luke was hoping he'd make it back there eventually, in one way or another. He didn't remember much of it, only the mountain air and the faint smell of pine trees. He knew he wouldn't ever find his parents again, even if he did he wouldn't be able to talk to them, else the SPARTAN program could be unveiled. And that would _not_ be good for Luke or his family.

Yet, he still wondered about them.

"Luke? We ready to roll?" Piper asked, surprising him.

"Yeah. Let's go."

He hadn't realized that Nicole and Piper had woken, and he mentally kicked himself for it. He was the leader, he couldn't space off like that. It could cost lives later in his career.

The team made it through the few corridors to the gym, and selected their rack. It was bench press today, and Luke was grateful. His legs were sore from the run and squatting from the day before.

"Alrighty. Let's get to work."

Jacob was putting up some impressive weights, and the rest of the squad didn't seem so anxious to do the same. Sure, they were all impressive for their age, but Jacob stood out today. And later, Luke noticed, Nicole did too.

The rest of their lift went past in a blur, chin ups and crunches, curls and planks. By the time they were finished, they were all drenched in sweat.

"White Team! Let's hit the showers. We've got a date with our handler after breakfast. Make sure to freshen up nicely for the Captain." Luke said, addressing the fireteam.

"Freshen up nicely? You sound like a proper Brit, Luke. You want to try some Shepherd's Pie now? Ooh, or maybe some trifle?" Jacob said as he wiped his forehead of sweat.

Luke simply rolled his eyes in return, told them to form up, and marched them down the hall and into the showers. They all washed up and changed into clean fatigues. The dark-gray ONI variants given to them had their identification number over their heart, while their SPARTAN program patches were sewn into the shoulders and on the left side of the chest.

The team filed into the mess hall at oh-six-hundred, looking for a spot to sit.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, first off, I'd like to say that I'm really sorry for how long it's been. Football was in full swing and school's just starting up, and I think I started this in May? So I had baseball going on pretty strong then too. But yeah, this entire fic kind of left my mind. I've had an idea for another that I'm gonna start writing, which is a terrible idea, I know, but I have some chapters prewritten so I only need to come up with a few. And sorry for the short chapter earlier, and sorry for this one, I know it sucks pretty bad, but I wanted to give you something more.

Anyway, good to be back. And no, I'm not Australian, I'm from small-town Iowa. About as far as you can get, I'd say. Thanks for the compliments! I'll try and make this worth your guyses while. Without further ado, here it is.

Chapter 5

Earth's Orbit

July 23, 2523

0730, UNSC Military Calendar

Their breakfast was bland.

Not unusual for the military, but it just seemed that today's was almost unnecessarily bland. The so-called "eggs" were tasteless, the sausage was dry, and even copious amounts of sauce and syrup they layers on wouldn't do a thing. But it was all over now, time for a meeting with their handler.

Like marched them to his office after the team had finished eating, and there they stood, outside the door.

"So who's gonna knock?" Piper asked, a smirk playing on her lips. Luke rolled his eyes and stepped up to the door, and tapped his knuckles against the hard metal surface.

A muffled "come in!" was heard, and the door opened.

While Captain Lynch was sitting at his desk, a new man in UNSC ODST fatigues sat in a chair across from him. Lynch looked up from his computer monitor and at the Spartan recruits that had filed into his office.

Lynch sighed, and an almost sad look came across his face. It was gone in an instant, if it was even there, and he gave them a nod.

The ODST stood, turning around and look at the five recruits.

"So you're the ones I'm supposed to be training." He said in a heavily accented English.

The team was already at attention, but seemed hesitant at the answer. Luke, always with an answer, replied to him.

"Yes sir, I believe so."

"Hmm.. they're small, Captain." The man said.

"Indeed. It's what ONI wanted." Lynch said, treading carefully.

"How old are they, Captain?"

"Sir, if I may, that's classified." Luke spoke up.

The ODST turned back to the Spartans, seeming almost shocked.

"Uh-huh." he said, before turning back to Lynch. They seemed to have a conversation silently through their eyes before reaching an agreement.

The ODST turned again to face the Spartans.

"I am Master Chief Petty Officer Alexei Ivanov. I will be your training instructor during your time on Earth. You will report directly to me, not Lynch, not even the Director of ONI herself. Me. Is that clear, recruits?"

There was barely a tenth of a second's hesitation before the Spartans answered.

"Yes, chief!" The five chorused.

"Training begins as soon as you're boots on the ground. Dismissed."

The Spartan recruits exited the office in perfect formation and walked to their bunk room.

Once inside, all hell broke loose.

"What the hell?"

"We get this guy?"

"I swear, he's gonna kill us. He had ODST fatigues on. He's no ONI agent."

"Look, this isn't Mendez. He's gonna be crap."

"Guys, shut up!" Luke yelled, "Just because we have a crap instructor, doesn't mean we whine about it!"

The rest of the team was silent, shocked Luke had raised his voice.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. Just, were Spartans, right? Let's live up to our namesake, right? Those three hundred that stood against impossible odds? Look, I know this guy seems like a world class a-hole. That's from literally two sentences. Don't you think that's overreacting? Mendez was an ass at first too. And besides. It shouldn't even matter. We're training. It's supposed to be rough. We can deal."

The other four- Jacob, Olivia, Piper, and Nicole hung their heads. Luke was right. But, then again, he usually was.

"Sorry Luke." Jacob said.

"It's alright. Let's just get over to class. We've got, um, trig. Or maybe land nav. Or something else. Not sure. Whatever it is, let's go."

Again, that sucked. Sorry for making you read it. They should get better in the near future, so don't worry. I hope you'll still read! Thanks, and see you next time. Which should be soon. I hope.


	6. Chapter 6

Well I've done it. Finally. Regular updates should follow every Wednesday, and beware time skips. I have the date and everything before the chapter but you've probably already noticed that.

Things are gonna start moving a little faster now, moving into the main part of the story. Thanks for reading! And please leave a review if you have questions, comments or concerns. Enjoy.

**Chapter 6**

**Outback, Commonwealth of Australia**

**September 15, 2524**

**1300, UNSC Military Calendar**

"Contact, five o'clock!" Jacob twisted his body, raised his SRS-99 and sighted in, searching for a body.

He was currently in a field training exercise with his team in the middle of nowhere in Australia's Outback. And man, was it hot.

Nicole was on his left, manning their warthog's mounted M41 machine gun. She turned the turret towards the enemies spotted, and began laying down suppressive fire, sending non-lethal tactical training rounds downrange at the attacking marine forces.

Jacob finally found a marine, flicked the safety off his rifle, and fired, giving the man on the receiving end of his shot a nasty bruise and a splatter of paint and anesthetic in the gap between the man's back plate and helmet.

He quickly switched targets, picking five more off before they could get to cover. Nicole kept her barrage up, catching five more in addition to the two she got when she started firing. If it was a platoon sized element, then there was still one more.

_Where is the bugger? _Jacob thought to himself, before hearing the crack of a rifle and a splat noise that signified the training round hitting the rock next to him.

_Oh._ He answered himself. Jacob turned towards the rifle, but Nicole was faster. She sent a burst to the offender and hit the Marine in the chest a good four times.

"Damn good shooting!" Jacob yelled up to Nicole.

"Ha! Better than yours!" Was the answer he received.

"In your dreams!" Jacob retorted.

"Will you two stop acting like children and focus at the task on hand?" Came Olivia's annoyed voice over the radio.

"Sorry."

White Team's goal was to take control of a mock airfield with a company of Marines that had been set up by their trainers with only one gun warthog and their ICWS of choice.

Jacob hopped in the driver's seat of the 'hog. He started it up, shifted into gear, and raced towards the position that had been sent by Luke.

The position was on the top of a hill that overlooked the airfield yet was covered by enough brush that it could hide them and their warthog.

Their plan was brilliant, as usual, but also retained a basic simplicity that Luke had a knack for delivering. Jacob and Nicole would lay down sniper and covering fire from the top of the hill, while Piper fired the mortar Olivia had stolen from the airfield while scouting it out earlier. Luke and Olivia would enter the main building of the target while remaining undetected, secure the intel that they had to take, set as many traps as they could, and bug out before the Marines could send a retaliation force.

And Jacob was certain it would work. He slotted a new four round magazine into his sniper rifle before hopping out of the driver's seat and found a spot in the scrub brush that would mask his presence from the Marines. He wouldn't even have to worry about scope glare, as the sun was behind him and Nicole, allowing him to remain undetected as long as no one spotted his muzzle flash.

Luke, Jacob decided, was indeed the born tactician their trainers thought he was.

"This is White Five, me and Three are in position, over." Jacob said over the comms.

"Copy Five. One and Four are in position as well. Commence bombardment, over." Luke replied.

"Get ready ladies and gents, 'cause I'm sending my first downrange… Now." An audible 'thump' could be heard over TEAMCOM as Piper's mortar fired a training round.

The round travelled through the air before slamming down in the middle of a squad patrolling the outer border of the airfield. Two more rounds were fired in quick succession, disabling another two squads before the defenders realized what was happening.

An alarm sounded, and Marines rushed outside the main structure and into battle positions. Jacob figured that an entire platoon was down, counting the rifle squad he and Piper had taken out earlier. That meant that there were still two more rifle platoons, a weapons platoon, and the HQ personnel.

So he decided to get to work.

Jacob sighted in, acquiring a target and sent a training round to the gap in the body armor underneath the man's armpit. He quickly switched targets, taking another Marine out with a shot to the inner thigh, another with a shot to the neck, and a last with a round to his face.

With four shots, he got four targets, and was forced to reload. Jacob slotted in a new magazine, and listened as Nicole opened up with the mounted gun on the warthog.

Jacob sighted back in, seeing another squad down due to combined efforts from himself and Nicole's shooting, and looked for more targets. A fireteam of five came out from behind cover, and he took his chance, this time only hitting three of his four shots.

"Dammit!" he reloaded and aimed back at the fireteam, but before he could shoot, two figures clad in black ODST body armor took the survivors out.

Luke and Olivia had made it inside.

Piper's mortar laid out another trio of rounds in impossibly fast succession around a mass of Marines, taking out about what Jacob figured to be half a platoon. Nicole opened up on the rest of them, and he sent a few bullets to help out.

That decimated the other half. That meant one more platoon and the weapons platoon.

_Oh, bloody hell, _He thought, _The weapons platoon._

Jacob looked through his scope, panicking, desperately trying to find the weapons platoon.

He needed to track them down, as they were packing six SAWs, three, no, two mortars, now that White Team had appropriated one of them, and six M41 SPNKR rocket launchers.

They could really do some damage if left unfound and intact.

"Nicole!" He yelled up at the female recruit, "look out for the weapons platoon!"

"Yeah, I'm looking for just about everything. We'll find them, don't-" she began to reply, but a burst of rounds stopped her as they smacked into the side of the 'hog and whizzed around and overhead.

"Found 'em!" Nicole rotated the turret and let loose a long salvo of rounds from her mounted machine gun.

"Yeah, and they found us!" Jacob said, aiming for the now found heavy weapons group.

"Well, just get Piper to send a few rounds their way and send them to training kingdom come!" Nicole replied as she ducked underneath more incoming rounds.

"Good idea!"

"No crap, I came up with it!" More rounds from the warthog were loosed and a few hit their mark, as three men fell, knocked unconscious from the anesthesia in the paint.

"White-Two, this is White-Five! Requesting fire support at-" Jacob rattled off the coordinates his scope showed him that two squads had taken up position.

"Copy White-Five, I hear you. One and Four, be aware, danger close fire support incoming!" Piper replied over TEAMCOM, and two distant back to back 'thumps' came from her position.

Jacob watched as the two squads were covered head to toe in paint, marking them all dead.

"This is White-One to all units, package secure, we're pulling out. Laying down personnel mines on our exfil, over." Luke sprinted after Olivia who was carving a path out of the base with her M90 CAWS, while Luke dropped the small, flat, circular objects that were TR/9 anti-personnel mines.

"Copy, One. Three and I are coming to pick you up now, over." Jacob said as he folded his rifle's bipod and sprinted to the warthog.

"Finally, some real action!" Nicole yelled as Jacob revved up the engine and hit the accelerator, driving the force-application-vehicle down the hill and in front of the air base as Nicole lay down suppressive fire.

Piper continued her mortar barrage, sending more rounds downrange, causing disarray within the base and making the troops within scatter and dive for cover.

Jacob and Nicole's warthog zoomed across the open terrain towards Olivia and Luke, stopping only for them to be able to scramble in, before Jacob slammed on the gas again as Nicole fired more bursts from the machine gun at the base.

"Woooohooooo! We sure as hell showed them!" Olivia cried, pumping a fist.

"Don't be so sure yet, there's still some more left-" Luke was interrupted by several booms as the training antipersonnel mines they laid went off, splattering some unlucky fellows with paint and painful numbing agents.

"You were saying?" Olivia looked pointedly at him, before turning to Jacob in the driver's seat next to her. "That's some damn-good driving, Jakey!"

Jacob looked at her and gave her a thumbs up, before dapping her on the knuckles.

"This is White-Two, no signs of motion from the base detected by overhead drones. We did it! Over." Piper said excitedly over TEAMCOM.

The rest of White Team in the warthog gave hoots and hollers of victory as they turned to pick Piper up.

"They certainly are creative, you have to give them that." MCPO Alexei Ivanov said to Captain Lynch as they watched the footage from the FTX that White Team won earlier in the day.

"You're sure right about that," Lynch said as he nursed a finger of whiskey in a glass, "and effective, too."

"These five are gonna turn out a little more than alright, I'd say," Ivanov scrolled through messages on his datapa, "really, our only problem are the commanders of the troops we set them against."

Lunch laughed at that, a good hearty laugh that came from in his chest.

"That's a good thing, though!" He said, chuckling.

Ivanov allowed a smile, "Yes sir, it is."


	7. Chapter 7

Alright here we are again! Sorry for the delay, Thanksgiving is freaking awesome. Anyway, to answer the question, yeah, it's basically extreme paintball from what I can figure. If you've ever seen Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, that's the type of round that I was going for. There's a Wikipedia page too, if you want to read it. Anyway, here you go! Also sorry for the formatting errors, the site is weird.

Chapter 7

Unknown ONI Facility, Sydney, Australia

March 29, 2525

2000 hours, UNSC Military Calendar

It was currently after evening muster in the remote ONI base White Team was training at, and that meant free time and sleep to the recruits.

Jacob watched his team from the top cot of the bunk he shared with Olivia as he cleaned and checked his prized sniper rifle.

Luke was looking at his TACPAD, most likely going over team and individual scores from the past week of training and tests. Piper sat next to him on the smaller couch they had been able to get into their bunk room, assembling and disassembling a small tactical observation drone that the team employed on exercises whose parameters allowed it. Nicole was catching up on sleep in her bunk, snoring softly.

And Olivia was currently MIA.

Well, not exactly MIA. She was on the base, Jacob knew, but he hadn't seen her in the past ten minutes. He was curious where she went. But he also was in the middle of cleaning his rifle, so it wasn't like he could go looking for her.

He assembled the receiver again, screwed in the barrel, and snapped the scope back onto the top rail before he clipped a sling onto it and set it beside the bunk bed.

He was about to go over his M6/S sidearm when Olivia entered the room.

"Where were you then?" Jacob asked, genuinely curious.

"Well that's none of your business, you arse," Olivia said with a smile, "I was trying to figure out why we're getting shipped to a medical station tomorrow morning."

Luke looked up, surprised.

"What?" He asked, setting down his TACPAD.

"Yeah. We're scheduled to take a pelican up to some ship at like, 1000 hours tomorrow morning. The agents who were talking about it went into what I can only guess was a secure room right as they were saying why."

Luke looked disturbed. He couldn't fathom why they would need to leave the ONI base they were at now to go to some medical ship; the base had an amazing medbay, to Jacob's delight, as he was their informal team medic.

He was stumped, to put it simply.

"I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Don't let it eat you up." He said, and turned back to his pad, before looking at the time. "Ah… Lights out, Spartans," he said, setting the tablet onto the wireless charging station and slid into his bottom bunk.

UNSC Hospital Ship, _Peace and Tranquility_

March 30, 2525

1156 hours, UNSC Military Calendar

Jacob was always scared during a mission. He'd often heard his instructors say only an idiot _wouldn't_ be scared. You just had to learn to hide it.

That's what he was doing currently. They were in Earth's orbit, on a medical ship; the UNSC _Peace and Tranquility_, about to go through a series of augmentations that would turn them into the super-soldiers they were meant to be. Their already close-cropped hair had been shaved completely after their morning showers.

Jacob didn't know what the augmentations entailed, and didn't want to ask. Whatever they were, he was sure that they would work. Mostly sure.

"You alright?" Olivia asked, looking at him.

"Yeah. Peachy." He responded, smiling for her sake.

Olivia nodded and turned back to her tacpad. She was currently running a battle simulator, commanding a virtual army and combating a computer-led enemy force.

"Luke, when are we meeting with Lynch?" Piper asked, scrolling through reports of Insurrectionist activity that she almost certainly didn't have clearance to see.

"Ah… Yeah, we should get going." Luke replied, standing up from his seat on the bunk.

Nicole rose from her position on one of the chairs around the small table the team had been allowed, stacking the deck of cards she was shuffling and sliding them into the box.

"Let's do it, then."

The team filed out of their bunk room, and headed down the corridor to Lynch's temporary office. The Office of Naval Intelligence was a huge network of agents, spooks, spies, and scientists, and at least one member seemed to be on every UNSC ship. The _Peace and Tranquility_, however, being a medical ship, had more than a few ONI scientists on board. These were also the same scientists that would be giving the SPARTAN recruits their augmentations.

"So what d'you think they'll be like?" Olivia asked, referring to the operations they would be going through.

"Dunno. But they're gonna be expensive, extensive, and amazing, if we're the way to stop the entire Insurrectionist movement." Piper replied.

Olivia nodded, and the rest of the walk through the corridors was silent, save for the crewmen going to and from various workplaces. They got a few stares, but no one said anything.

Finally, the door to Lynch's office was ahead of them. Luke pressed the button to ask for entry, and the door slid open a few moments later.

Lynch had a somber look upon his face when he saw the five Spartans. He kept sitting, and motioned for White Team to take a seat at the chairs he had in front of his desk.

He had a glass of brownish liquid on a coaster on his desk, next to the computer monitor. Lynch took a drink.

"Tennessee whiskey. I really shouldn't be drinking on duty, but I needed a pick-me-up." He sighed. "Look, what they're about to do to you… it's gonna be rough. I've read the reports. It'll definitely make a difference, but I can't say I like it."

Nicole raised an eyebrow. "Permission to speak, sir?"

"Granted."

"What's so bad about it?"

"I'm afraid that's classified. The only reason I know about is because I'm your handler. You'll find out eventually." Lynch took another drink. "I just wanted to see if you guys were ready. It appears you are, so head on down to deck six-c. I'll have ONI agents lead you there."

Lynch stood up, motioning for the Spartans to do so as well.

"Whatever the outcome, I'm glad to have been your handler. You five will make a difference, I'm sure of it. Now get out of here. Dismissed."

The Spartan recruits saluted Lynch, and turned to the door, filing out and meeting two armed ONI Security guards. The guards led them to a tram, which led them to an elevator, and then to another tram, and finally through corridors to the medical center.

An ONI scientist met them at the door.

"Ah. You're the recruits. Um, this way, please." The scientist led them to a locker room. And instructed them to remove everything but their undergarments. He stepped out, and as White Team came back out of the room, he guided each member to one of the five operation tables in the room.

"Lie down, please." The scientist ordered, and assistants put breath masks onto the recruit's faces. Jacob looked over to his left and saw Olivia. Fear was in her eyes as she looked back at him. He smiled at her.

"It's gonna be alright." He said, but the gas that the doctors pumped into the breathing tubes had knocked him out before he could finish. The last thing he saw was the robotic arms equipped with surgical tools come down from the ceiling.


	8. Chapter 8

To RFA- Yessir! As smarter people than I have said, "don't fix what ain't broken." And also I want to stay as close to canon as possible, to make this story more realistic. Speaking of the story, we're starting to heat things up- training, augmentations… So really, what else makes a Spartan?

Oh, right. The armor. Duh. Not yet. If you do just so happen to be reading, feel free to leave a review. It's good to know what you guys are thinking, and feedback is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long note, go ahead and dive in!

Chapter 8

UNSC Hospital Ship, _Peace and Tranquillity _

March 31, 2525

14:27, UNSC Military Calendar

Jacob woke slowly through a fog of anesthesia. His head ached, and he ran his fingers around the back of his head. When they reached the bandage, he winced and almost cried out. _So. That's where they operated._ He continued his exploration more gently. The bandage was small, just a couple of centimeters near the bump at the back of his skull. So they hadn't replaced his brain, then.

He looked around. The recovery room was dark, except for the faint glow of monitors. He was not alone, he saw; Luke was in the bed next to him. Luke's skin was pale, with a fine layer of perspiration on his forehead. As he focused, Jacob found he could see Luke's pores across his cheeks and nose. He wondered why the surgery would have enlarged their pores. What purpose could that serve?

Then it dawned on him that Luke's pores were not enlarged; he could just see them. From five meters away. In the dark.

He looked around suddenly, wincing as his operation site pressed against his pillow. He could see everything, as if the lights were on. But they most certainly were not.

Jacob gingerly fingered the bandage at the back of his head. _They made us able to see in the dark._ That, he decided, was pretty cool.

April 2, 2025

1605, UNSC Military Calendar

Pain was the first thing Jacob was aware of as the anesthesia wore off. Searing, blinding pain. Even before he was conscious, actually, he was aware of the pain. Like every bone in his body was being crushed simultaneously. It was an unbelievably horrible sensation, something he'd never imagined in all his life.

"This one's waking up," he heard someone nearby say.

"Push 45 milliliters of Arbitol," someone else said, and seconds later Jacob's world went mercilessly black.

April 15, 2525

0935, UNSC Military Calendar

Jacob became conscious by degrees, and even after a couple minutes his head was so foggy with pain that he wasn't entirely sure he really was conscious. It seemed that pain was all he'd ever known. In that regard, it wasn't as mind-numbingly terrible as the last time he'd woken; it was at least familiar this time.

He wanted to scream, but the tube down his throat prevented that. He wanted to writhe, but he was strapped to the bed. He wanted to die, but the ventilator kept pushing air into his lungs with maddening regularity.

A face appeared above him. "Hello, Jacob."

He tried to focus on the face, but that was hard to do.

"How are you feeling?"

Jacob managed an eye roll.

"Yes, that was a stupid question. I'm sorry. I realize you can't talk, and that you're in a lot of pain—" Jacob rolled his eyes again— "but I'm here to try to help you through that." Jacob looked hopefully at the IV drip beside his bed. "No, I'm sorry, not with drugs." Jacob glared at the face, with all the venom his agony could convey. "I'm here to help you think about your pain differently. My name is Hoskins. I'm a psychologist." Jacob rolled his eyes again. "My specialty is pain management. We've been helping people deal with chronic pain for centuries. And after the opioid dependence epidemic of the early 21st century, teaching people how to do it without drugs became an urgent topic of research. I've been working with soldiers—amputees mostly—for the last twenty years. I think I can help you, too."

Jacob looked at the face doubtfully. He couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. The voice was completely neutral, soothing and calm. Trying to figure out Hoskins' gender somehow helped.

The face turned away for a second, apparently checking Jacob's monitors. "That's good. Your heart rate is down a little. You've already learned one of the basic methods: distracting yourself from pain decreases the experience of it. If you focus on something else, that's less of your brain that's focusing on the pain. Think of it this way. Your body has pain to let you know you need to stop doing something that's unhealthy for it. You feel pain when you touch a hot stove so that you will move your hand off the stove before your tissue gets burned to death. But the pain feedback loop sometimes isn't all that useful. In chronic pain, for example, there's not always something you can change to avoid further damage. In your case, the pain will eventually go away, but it's going to be a while before your body heals from the surgery. So before that happens, you need to be able to compartmentalize it, put it away in a place in your brain where it doesn't distract you from other tasks.

"Now, the first thing I tell patients to do is slow their breathing. That's not an issue right now, because the ventilator is keeping your breath at an ideal rate. That's helping with your heart rate, too. Many people find that it helps to visualize the pain at this point; personifying it, or picturing it as a demon or black cloud or snake, something concrete instead of abstract, can make it easier to address."

Hoskins' voice droned on, and Jacob tried to focus on what he or she was saying. Some of it even made sense. Picturing the pain as a giant snake came automatically as soon as Hoskins suggested it, a giant constrictor wrapped around his body, crushing it slowly and steadily. Jacob hated snakes. And he poured all of that hate into his picture of the pain that enveloped him. At Hoskins' suggestion, he made details on the snake—colors, patterns, scale size and shape. He saw the powerful muscles ripple, saw the snake eyeing him coldly, calculating when it could start to swallow him.

Jacob refused to be swallowed. He would not be consumed by his pain. He would defeat it, throw it off, and walk away. He pictured himself slipping a knife out of his sleeve, a throwing knife he kept in a quick-release sheath on his wrist. He wriggled his hand free enough to press the blade against the snake's hide, harder and harder until it pierced the skin, and he plunged it deeper and deeper into the flesh. The snake recoiled, loosening its grip. Jacob stabbed the snake again, and again, and the snake hissed and slacked several of its coils. Jacob gasped a breath. Then the pain returned in a rush.

The face above him blinked. "You were doing it, weren't you? You were defeating the pain." Jacob widened his eyes. "That's excellent work, Jacob. Truly excellent. Very few people can do as well on their first try at that exercise as you just did." Another form appeared at the bedside, fiddling with his IV. "You can rest now. I'll be back later today and we'll try some more. Very well done, Jacob. Truly, I'm very proud…"

Jacob's world once more turned blissfully black, and he floated without pain.

UNSC Hospital ship, _Peace and Tranquility_

April 20, 2525

1230 Hours, UNSC Military Calendar

Jacob awoke again, his body instantly wracked with pain. His back arched in pain, and he tried to bring his hands to his face to rip the ventilator from his mouth. He felt the restraints, but he kept on pulling, and was more than surprised when the shackles gave way and he ripped his hands from the cot.

"What did they to us?" Jacob wondered aloud, his mind struggling with the fact that he had just broken free.

Pain momentarily forgotten, he tested trying to kick. He couldn't, his ankles were held down by similar shackles. But he tried harder.

With a slight screech of metal rubbing against metal, his legs were free.

It hurt. Everything hurt.

He reached his hand to the ventilator and felt it, grasping it and ripping it out.

He immediately regretted it, his throat burning. Jacob became aware of the rest of the pain, his veins were on fire and his head was throbbing. Jacob opened his eyes and saw red.

His vision was blurry, and he blinked. Blinking hurt, he realized.

"Doctor! This one's breaking out!" A voice shouted out.

"Give him more Arbitol, and secure him better this time. He sure is a fighter. He'll make a good soldier." Another voice replied.

Jacob's vision turned black and his pain faded away as he drifted back into unconsciousness.

Jacob was almost used to the pain. The other pain, that is. The pain he was in now, however, was worse. He could almost feel his veins moving, trying to rip out of his skin. His muscles were on fire, and he twisted and tried to get away from the pain, but it didn't work. He could see light from underneath his eyelids, and the pillow was rough against his head, rubbing against the surgery sites, making them erupt in pain.

It felt like he was made out of pain.

Somehow, out of the fog in his head, he heard what the person had said to him earlier.

"Many people find that it helps to visualize the pain…"

So he did. He saw the snake again, it's cold eyes glinting. He saw it wrap around the people he cared most about- his team. Jacob wouldn't, no, couldn't let anything happen to them.

The snake wrapped tighter and tighter, looking at him, daring Jacob to make a move. So he did. Jacob ran at the snake, jumping on it, hitting it over and over again, trying to get it to release his family.

Jacob finally got the snake to let go of the team, and it turned on him, forked tongue flicking out.

Then he awoke.

Jacob was immediately wracked with pain again, trying to cry out but the ventilator was in the way.

"Doctor, he's trying to get out again!" A voice came from his side, seeming panicked.

"Give him more Arbitol, we can't have him thrashing about like he is. We need more restraints." Another voice, farther away this time, answered the first.

Jacob felt a cool sensation in his arm, wondered what was going on, and opened his eyes.

They were clearer, still tinged with red, but he could see. And what he saw did not make him feel good.

He was inside a lab, he vaguely remembered entering it with Luke, Olivia, Piper, and Nicole, but couldn't think of where it was. Jacob looked around, trying to figure it out, and he saw his team, all unconscious, all still. He tried to call out to them, but couldn't, his eyelids were too heavy and he was getting tired. The pain started to go away, and he let his head fall back onto the pillow, and let himself drift out of consciousness.


End file.
